Behavioral Response Assessment
Objective: Identify the afferent neural pathway mediating emotional responses to acoustic stimuli by comparing effects of lesions in auditory cortex versus medial geniculate nucleus on conditioned emotional responses
This is a Behavioral Response Assessment protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 3 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 1984 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
~2.9 week study window
Core workflow
Neuroanatomical tracing to identify auditory cortex • Lesion placement • Recovery period
Primary readouts
- Mean arterial pressure changes
- Heart rate changes
- Duration of freezing (immobilization)
- Drink suppression duration
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Neuroanatomical tracing to identify auditory cortex
Anterograde neuroanatomical tracing studies were conducted by injecting HRP into the medial geniculate nucleus to define the rat auditory cortex
Note: This tracing study was performed prior to lesion placement
View evidence from paper
“The rat auditory cortex was defined through anterograde neuroanatomical tracing studies involving the injection of HRP into MG”
Lesion placement
Lesions were placed in either the auditory cortex or medial geniculate nucleus (MG), or in the inferior colliculus as a control
Note: Different groups received lesions in different brain regions for comparison
View evidence from paper
“Lesions were then placed in the auditory cortex or in MG”
Recovery period
Rats were allowed to recover following lesion surgery before behavioral testing
Note: Recovery period was necessary before fear conditioning trials
View evidence from paper
“After 10 to 20 days the rats were subjected to classical fear conditioning trials”
Classical fear conditioning
Rats underwent classical fear conditioning trials involving pairing of a pure tone with electric footshock
Note: This establishes the acoustic conditioned emotional stimulus
View evidence from paper
“the rats were subjected to classical fear conditioning trials involving the pairing of a pure tone with electric footshock”
Extinction trials with measurement
During extinction trials (no footshock), the acoustic conditioned emotional stimulus was presented while measuring autonomic and behavioral responses
Note: Measurements included mean arterial pressure, heart rate, freezing duration, and drink suppression
View evidence from paper
“Changes in mean arterial pressure and heart rate and the duration of immobilization (freezing) and drink suppression elicited by presentation during extinction trials (no footshock) of the acoustic conditioned emotional stimulus were measured”